viets were positioned. Over the issue of Germany's treatment - with the Soviets calling for punishment and the Americans for rebuilding - the two nations also disagreed. A divided Germany was the result of this conflict. Control of atomic weapons was another area of conflict, with the Soviets demanding that the U.S,. "share" knowledge and Truman using the threat of the bomb in his negotiations with the Soviet Union. The result was an international arms race, not international cooperation. Prior to such escalation of tensions, Stalin had thanked Truman for his support of Soviet proposals for the Soviet-Chinese Accord in 1945. As Stalin wrote to Truman in a telegram, ôReceived your message concerning preparation of the Soviet-Chinese Accord and your instructions to Mr. Hurly. Thank you for the measures you have taken,ö (Telegram 1945, 1).
By early 1946 U.S.-Soviet relations ere irreparably strained as a result of these conflicts. Stalin publicly stated that there would never be a lasting peace with the capitalist West, and Churchill responded by stating that an "iron curtain" had blocked off Eastern Europe from the West. From then on, the emotion-cha
...